Water quality sensor

Abstract

A water quality sensor includes a housing including a light transmissive bucket mounted in an electrical washing appliance and a light transmissive inner barrel mounted in the bucket, an actuation module mounted in the inner barrel for detecting a water quality of a washing solution in the electrical washing appliance. Thus, if the bucket is cracked during manufacturing or due to a collision, the contact actuation module can still be well protected by the inner barrel, so that the washing solution in the electrical washing machine does not directly flow into contact with the actuation module to cause an accidental short circuit of the circuit substrate of the actuation module, improving the water resistance and service life of the water quality sensor.

What the invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A water quality sensor, comprising:
 a housing comprising a bucket, an inner barrel mounted in said bucket and a cover capped on said bucket, said bucket comprising a transparent panel, an accommodation chamber defined therein above said transparent panel for accommodating said inner barrel and a male engagement structure provided at a top side thereof, said inner barrel comprising a light transmissive bottom wall facing toward said transparent panel of said bucket and an inner receiving chamber defined therein above said light transmissive bottom wall, said cover comprising a female engagement structure arranged around the periphery thereof and forced into engagement with said male engagement structure; and 
 an actuation module comprising a circuit substrate horizontally mounted in said inner receiving chamber of said inner barrel and disposed in parallel to said transparent bottom wall, a light sensor mounted on a bottom surface of said circuit substrate and electrically connected to said circuit substrate and an electrical connector electrically mounted in an opposing top surface of said circuit substrate, said light sensor comprising a light-emitting component and a light-receiving component spaced from each other at a predetermined distance and a light-shading member disposed at a bottom side of said light-emitting component, said light-shading member comprising a through hole for the insertion of said light-emitting component and a barrier layer disposed between said light-emitting component and said light-receiving component. 
 
     
     
       2. The water quality sensor as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein said bucket further comprises an expanded top open space in communication with a top side of said accommodation chamber, and an annular stop edge defined therein between said expanded top open space and said accommodation chamber. 
     
     
       3. The water quality sensor as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein an inner barrel further comprises an outer flange extended around an inner receiving chamber, a gasket ring made up of an elastic material and mounted around the periphery thereof and stopped between said outer flange of said annular stop edge of said bucket, said gasket ring defining therein a ring hole for the insertion of said inner barrel. 
     
     
       4. The water quality sensor as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein said male engagement structure of said bucket comprises a plurality of hook blocks spaced around the periphery of said bucket; said female engagement structure of said cover comprises a plurality of hook holes respectively forced into engagement with said hook blocks of said male engagement structure of said bucket; said cover further comprises a center through hole for the positioning of said electrical connector. 
     
     
       5. The water quality sensor as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein said inner barrel of said housing is made up of a transparent material. 
     
     
       6. The water quality sensor as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein said inner barrel further comprises condenser means located on a top surface of said light transmissive bottom wall and spaced from said light-receiving component at a predetermined distance, said condenser means comprises a condensing cone facing toward said light-receiving component. 
     
     
       7. The water quality sensor as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein said circuit substrate of said actuation module comprises a plurality of position-limiting holes and a plurality of retaining holes cut through opposing top and bottom surfaces thereof; said light-shading member comprises a plurality of pins spaced around the through hole thereof and respectively plugged into the respective said position-limiting holes and a plurality of retaining arms respectively fastened to the respective said retaining holes. 
     
     
       8. The water quality sensor as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein said light-emitting component of said light sensor is selectively an infrared light emitter, UV light emitter or laser light emitter; said light-receiving component of said light sensor is selectively a digital type of ambient light sensor or a light sensor of wavelength corresponding to the wavelength of said light-emitting component;
 said light-emitting component and said light-receiving component are selectively mounted to said circuit substrate by surface mount technology or dual inline package. 
 
     
     
       9. The water quality sensor as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the distance between the center of said light-emitting component and the center of said light-receiving component is within 3˜10 mm. 
     
     
       10. The water quality sensor as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the distance between said light sensor of said actuation module and the outer surface of said transparent panel of said bucket is within 1.5˜15 mm. 
     
     
       11. The water quality sensor as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the thickness of said barrier layer of said light-shading member between said light-emitting component and said light-receiving component is within 1˜5 mm.